What are some of the common challenges or issues today's modern worker faces in corporate America? What is different -- or new -- from, say, five or ten years ago? What are some of the ways people are imagining the workplace may shift in the coming years?

Welcome to the CARC Podcast!

We spoke with Josh Drean, who obtained his ALM in the field of management from HES in 2020.

Josh Drean is a digital transformation expert who marries web3 technologies with workplace culture strategies. He is co-founder & Director of Employee Experience at The Work3 Institute and an AI + Work Advisor at the Harvard Innovation Labs.

His new book Employment is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025) explores how businesses are adapting to the evolving landscape of work.

The books tagline is -- "With disruptive technologies on the horizon, traditional employment models are becoming outdated. How will your organization adapt to the evolving landscape of work?"

Josh's work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, and The Economist and he has made appearances on The Today Show, NBC, and FOX Business.

CARC Podcast: The Future of Work

Brian Pietras is a preceptor in Expository Writing in the Harvard College Writing Program. He holds a PhD in English Literature from Rutgers University. His scholarly articles have been published in The Journal of the History of Sexuality, Renaissance Drama, Spenser Studies, and elsewhere. Brian also teaches Advanced Memoir writing and a Proseminar course at the Harvard Extension School.

Trained as an early modernist, his work on the history of sexuality has led to a new project that investigates queer life in America before Stonewall. Prior to coming to Harvard, he taught in the Writing Program and Freshman Seminars Program at Princeton. 

We had the pleasure to speak to Brian about what differences there are (if any) between teaching HES students and students elsewhere at the University, the challenges that generative AI brings to the field of writing, and the ways academic and creative writing overlap.

CARC Podcast: Academic vs. Creative Writing

Deb Levy is a professional certified coach who uses research-based Positive Psychology strategies to help people in career transition prioritize their goals and develop personalized road maps to success.

In addition to being a former Teaching Fellow at Harvard, Deb has been a longtime partner of the Career and Academic Resource Center (CARC). For well over a decade, she has presented CARC webinars on topics related to goal-setting, productivity, and a growth mindset to thousands of Harvard Extension School student attendees.

It was our pleasure to have a longer sit-down chat with Deb to learn more about her work. We discussed her approach to coaching (including how she has worked with individual Extension School students over the years), the importance of a growth (versus a fixed) mindset -- and a whole lot more!

CARC Podcast: The Growth Mindset

Veritel Energy, a venture created by Tony Keslinke (ALM Sustainability 2024), provides a comprehensive system for property owners to generate clean, renewable, on-site electricity for tenants in multi-metered apartments.

Veritel Energy was a semi-finalist in the President's Innovation Challenge competition in both 2023 and 2024. Veritel was also a 2023 Harvard University Social Impact Fellowship Fund recipient. 

It was our great pleasure to speak with Tony about what he learned through his extensive work at the Harvard i-lab -- and what he advises future students do to make the most out of their Harvard Extension School degree candidate experience!

CARC Podcast: Veritel -- An i-lab Story

Ian Shank is a member of the expository writing faculty at Harvard College, where he has taught the first-year writing requirement since 2021. He also teaches a variety of literature and creative writing seminars at Harvard Extension School, including a survey course on the work of George Saunders, a class on the campus novel, and a humor writing workshop. 

Before coming to Harvard, he taught courses on creative nonfiction and rhetoric at the University of Iowa and helped lead the Brown University Writing Fellows Program. He holds an MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa and BA degrees in History and Italian Studies from Brown University. He is a native of St. Paul, Minnesota.

It was our pleasure to speak to Ian to hear about his experiences as a writing instructor, and to learn about his perspective on teaching humor writing.

CARC Podcast: Fundamentals of Good Writing

Laurie L. Dove is the author of Mask of the Deer Woman, published by Penguin Random House in 2025. The book is a USA Today Bestseller that The New York Times called a “best new release” and The Seattle Times called “a powerful read for fans of dark, riveting stories rooted in justice and resilience.” The novel was featured in several industry publications, including Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness. 

Dove writes about the complexities of identity, belonging, and social justice, and “sensitively tackles the systemic crisis that has ripped apart so many Native American communities,” according to The New York Times. Dove is an award-winning journalist and professor. The second novel in the Carrie Starr series arrives in 2026.

Dove is a 2022 alumna of the Creative Writing and Literature ALM degree at Harvard Extension School. It was our great pleasure to speak with her about the origins of her current book (and the follow-up book it has inspired), the important role that Extension School instructors and fellow students played in the development of her writing, and much more!

CARC Podcast: Mask of the Deer Woman

Naveen Kumar is the theater critic for The Washington Post. Previously, his work as a critic and journalist was published by The New York Times, Variety, them.us, Town & Country, and more. 

He has twice served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Prior to journalism, he worked on the agency side of the entertainment business, including in the theatrical literary department at CAA. He earned his BA from Vassar College and an MA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

It was our pleasure to be able to speak to Naveen about his writing process, advice he would share with budding theater or performing arts reviewers, and what it was like being on a Pulitzer Prize jury -- and more! 

Join us!

CARC Podcast: Reviewing Theater

Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury is the Lumry Family Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School. He was an Assistant Professor at Wharton prior to joining Harvard. His research is focused on studying the Future of Work, especially the changing Geography of Work. In particular, he studies the productivity effects of geographic mobility of workers, causes of geographic immobility, and productivity effects of flexible work practices. He is an Associate Editor at Management Science and was included in the 2023 Forbes Future of Work-50 list.

Professor Choudhury holds a doctorate from Harvard University, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology. Prior to his roles in academia, he spent a decade as a consultant with McKinsey and working for technology firms such as Microsoft and IBM.

His new book -- The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation -- was published recently by Harvard Business Review Press. It is a research-based deep dive into a growing phenomenon -- companies allowing employees to work from anywhere -- and how those who adopt this model can boost talent, innovation, and productivity. It was our great honor to be able to speak to Professor Choudhury about the themes of the book and the research work that went into its publication.

CARC Podcast: The World is Your Office

As summer session courses begin, you might be overwhelmed thinking about the assignments you'll be asked to complete in the coming weeks. Or you might be apprehensive about participating in class discussions, or presenting your work out loud.

Dr. Elisabeth Sharp McKetta and Margaret-Ann Simonetta, two scholars who have a wealth of experience to share, join us for an informative conversation to share tips with you on how to approach your writing assignments -- from gathering and organizing evidence, to shaping a good thesis question, and more.

These valuable writing skills can be used to begin any piece of source-based nonfiction, whether in the realm of business, science, social sciences, or humanities. We also discuss strategies to boost your self-confidence when presenting your work in either a classroom or a conference setting. Join us!

CARC Podcast: The Writing and Presenting Process

Agreeing to disagree -- we often hear that civil debate and discourse are disappearing in polite society, including within academia. Perhaps this is not solely because of our increasing political and cultural polarization, but because we have forgotten the ways that formal debate and oratory were studied and taught in past generations. We had an interesting talk with Dr. Leslie Rogne Schumacher -- who is, in fact, teaching courses on this very subject next year at Harvard Extension School.

Dr. Leslie Rogne Schumacher is a scholar of history, foreign policy/IR, intelligence studies, and leadership. He currently holds posts at Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Additionally, Dr. Schumacher is an Academic Director for Haverford College’s Great Books Summer Program, and he previously served as Director of the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence at Wells College, where he also taught history and international studies. He further has held prior fellowships at Harvard, the University of London, and Saint Joseph’s University. In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts for his civic engagement on refugee affairs. In 2024, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his book, The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain: Democracy and Diplomacy, Orientalism and Empire.

Dr. Schumacher currently serves in several posts at Harvard University. He serves as a Faculty Affiliate in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, where he has taught international relations and public policy. He is also an Associate in Harvard’s History Department. A champion high school debater and former debate team head coach, he is the university member on the board of the Pennsylvania State High School Speech and Debate League.

Join us for this engaging conversation!

CARC Podcast: Agree to Disagree -- Civil Debate

Welcome to the CARC Podcast!

Our episodes feature faculty from across Harvard University, alumni, notable authors and special guests! Our goal is to help shed light on the Harvard Extension School student experience – in addition to discussions about subject matter of interest to current students.

Have a listen!

CARC Podcast: The Writing and Presenting Process

Career & Academic Resource Center

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